Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! I am
being TRANSFERRED! Anziano Flynn, one of the assistants, called me, and when he
broke the news... I may have said some things I regret. Don't let your imagination run too wild. It's
just that I was super confused and was kind of just babbling because I did NOT
expect that.
We've been blown out ("white
washed" in other missions) which is super weird. [Both missionaries in a companionship being
transferred out of an area at the same time.]
Usually that happens when there is major disobedience involved (uh huh,
big problem here) or like zero work being done in the area. But we have just been hitting or were about
to be hitting the standards of excellence!
I'm heading to Bari to be with
Anziano Chugg. The cool experience I had though is that this call came during
personal study, so right afterward I said a quick prayer asking for help
understanding why this would happen. I was lead to read in the Teachings of
Joseph Smith the section about missionary work. I had heard the story before.
During a time in Kirtland, many members of the church and even leaders were
going apostate. The prophet Joseph probably thought, "Gee, I have to keep
the only faithful, solid people I have left right here to help strengthen the
saints." But amidst this all, he was asked to send the Quorum of the Twelve
on missions to England. It probably seemed crazy to him at the time, but he was
obedient and because of it the church survived and thousands were brought to
the gospel. So that made me feel a lot better.
So, here is the state of what we are
leaving for the new elders:
Maged should be having his baptismal
interview on Saturday. When I let him know I was leaving I told him, "It's
hard, I really love this ward." In
his not super strong English he responded, "Yea, and I love... you."
I think at the end he realized that that wasn't super normal to say, but it's
ok, I'm super happy for him, and I love the guy too.
Liu told us last Tuesday that he
wasn't ready for his interview on Saturday. The reason why is pretty
interesting though. He has a massive testimony, he knows this is the baptism he
needs, and even though this has been an insanely difficult time in his life, he
has never felt more peaceful. The previous Sunday he said he left church
singing out loud he was so happy. But he understands the commandments very
well, and with his companion and son living in Venezuela at the moment, he has
some doubts and things he needs to fix privately. But I see this as an eternal
family. He wants to bring her here and marry her, and I'm sure the Bishop would
be more than happy to do it for free. Until then, the elders can work
on getting him to take the step of baptism as soon as possible.
Mauro has had a change of heart.
When we went there the last time, it was as if they were all active members for
years. They are praying multiple times a day as a family, he and Rosa are
individually reading the Book of Mormon, and there was an incredible spirit of
love and joy the last time we went. Plus Dennis has honestly become one of my
two favorite young men in the ward. He and the rest of the family did well
putting up with the gospel principles lesson we taught on the fly this Sunday
since the teacher wasn't there ha-ha. But anyway he'll be ready to be baptized
once Rosa returns from Ecuador after a few weeks visit!
This Tuesday night we were sweeping
water out of our bedroom because our washer flooded. I will say, if you ever get lazy and don't
want to sweep, flooding the house is an excellent way to clean the floor
.
Love,
Anziano Cannon
Left to right: Fabio, the legendary
member missionary. We had an appointment cancel this week so we did a little
street finding. A couple times he
introduced us by saying "noi siamo qui come... Agenti segreti." [We are here
like....secret agents.] I'm
not sure the people understood, but it made us missionaries crack up for sure.
Then there's me, Franz Barriga (Shh... but he's my favorite young man here.
Such a cool kid), and Elder Saffer, an
AWESOME companion who I am very sad to be leaving after three incredible
transfers.
March 21, 2016
Wow.
Reasons I am privileged to come to
Bari:
Bari itself. Our bishop told us that
National Geographic rated this area as one of the top places to visit in the
world. Today for p-day we went to the beach and played mountain cricket or
something like that. We saw other evidence of tourism as we walked past stores
like Gucci and Armani and Prada with their $1600 jackets. Most of that is
probably not for the locals.
2. The work. It's going great… I
think. Apparently Bari is one of the most desired cities in this mission to go
to. It is a missionary ward. Going to correlation and hearing about lots of new
converts, having the bishop sit in for 40 minutes and get really involved helped.
For example, the Bishop mentioned a primary activity they are planning. "It'll be great for the kids to get together and have fun, but obviously
above all we want them to invite their friends. It should be primarily a
missionary activity." That was just music to my ears, it's incredible what
the missionary spirit can do to a ward of about 70 people. You don't get that
everywhere.
3. My companion. He is great and super
obedient. We walked out of the house first day and I found out we only ever speak
Italian outside. Awesome! He's one transfer younger than me but has
great desire and spirituality and he speaks quite well. He's also a state champion
golfer and is going back to BYU to play there.
Here's a couple cool things:
Saying goodbye to people was crazy.
Liu calls us his "little brothers". I'm super glad that he's been
able to build relationships with members however, because stuff like his
happens. He gave us "Roma" (the soccer team) scarfs the last time we
saw him. I had ceremonially given him a
tie the night before; that's a tradition for people you baptize so I'm putting
some faith in him!
Mauro drove us to the train station
at 6:00 AM the day we left. A few hours later, I found myself in
Bari!
We've done a couple lessons with a
pianist named Piero. It was super cool last night to go there and he let me
play his piano as we all sang "Israel, Israel God is Calling" as an
opening song.
Samuel! He is a Nigerian referral that
we've taught with the senior couple, the Fitzners. He is super cool, about
6'3" and easily over 300 pounds. On Sunday we ate a massivvvveee
lunch after church with the ward members, and we put him on "bringing in
the tables" duty. I can't wait to see him get an answer that he Book of
Mormon is true. Who will baptism him? We'll cross that bridge when we get to
it.
Love,
Anziano Cannon
Out with the old...
...In with the new!
Liu!
Mauro.
Maged.
No comments:
Post a Comment